The extent of doctoral programmes in Finnish universities is usually 240 ECTS credits, of which the doctoral dissertation takes around 200 credits. The planned duration of doctoral studies is four years, if the candidate plans to study on full-time basis.
The 40 credits of courses consist typically of discipline-specific studies, general research studies or other transferable skills, depending on the programme. In addition to these, doctoral students have some teaching responsibilities. To read more about the structure of studies in doctoral programmes in mathematics offered in the four host organisations of FiRST, please click the links below.
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Doctoral Researcher
“I was born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. I graduated from ETH Zürich and École Polytechnique Paris where I completed the joint master program in High-Energy Physics, and from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya where I completed the master program in Advanced Mathematics.
I got interested in Conformal Field Theory (CFT) during my master studies in Paris and, at about the same time, my academic interests took a turn from physics to mathematics. It was then that I found
In the CFT research group and on my doctoral studies we focus on lattice models that physicists have described using Conformal Field Theory. Using techniques of discrete complex analysis, we reconstruct the algebraic content featured in CFT (Virasoro representation) on the space of local fields.
In a way, I found the research topic first and that led me to Finland. I was happy that I could do my PhD in the Helsinki region anyway — it's no secret that the quality of life is very high in the Nordics. Coming from a chaotic, messy city, it was, in some sense, a cultural shock for me to see how nice and safe Helsinki is. On the other hand, the cold dark winters can be shocking too; but there's no better scenario for a nice session of sauna and avanto (ice swimming)!
If everything goes well, I hope to continue in academia either in Finland or somewhere else after my graduation. But there is still a lot of work to be done before that!”
Doctoral Researcher
"I did my BSc and MSc studies at the University of Helsinki. I soon became interested in probability and pivoted towards stochastics in my MSc studies. I did not plan to become a mathematical physicist: my interests for MSc thesis and the Mathematical Physics group just happened to be a great match.
After finishing the MSc thesis, I continued working with the same advisors. My research is on stochastic partial differential equations and the interplay between statistics and dynamics: for example, computing the “typical” or “average” behaviour of a system. A bit of randomness spices up questions of analysis a lot! SPDE is still a young field, with many breakthroughs in the past couple decades.
I’m now a few months away from defending my PhD thesis. It feels like I’ve just scratched the surface of a mountain of interesting questions! I’m hoping to continue working on research. There is much to like in academic work: the variety of tasks (research, teaching, conferences, outreach…), the freedom to arrange your work, and the fantastic colleagues here and abroad.
A negative aspect of academia is the unclear boundary between work and leisure – it’s hard to let go of a haunting problem. It’s very important to disconnect and let your brain switch gears. Becoming a parent has helped me a lot with this.
My advice on any kind of PhD research is: Ask a lot of questions. Often the most naïve questions teach you the most. It’s also healthy to see that maybe nobody has a good answer (which is usually the case with research).
It’s also good to have a wide mathematical appetite. Especially in mathematical physics we use tools from all across mathematics. Don’t be afraid to look outside mathematics either. Whatever piques your interest – that’s how you stand out! The hours I’ve spent on language courses have paid off on my academic travels."
Postdoctoral Researcher Anne Schreuder from
I did my bachelor's in mathematics and computer science at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in Germany. During my bachelor’s I studied a variety of mathematical subjects and chose my specialisation based on talent and interest. After that I switched to the University of Bonn (also in Germany) to pursue a master’s degree in mathematics with a focus on probability theory and analysis.
I was lucky enough to be able to pursue my PhD at the University of Cambridge. My PhD was on Loewner evolutions, which is an analytic representation theory in complex analysis, and its application in planar random growth models. I graduated from my PhD in the summer of 2025.
Now I am a postdoctoral researcher in Eveliina Peltola's group at Aalto University, and my topic of research is in large part a continuation of my doctoral research, in part because Eveliina and I also collaborated during my PhD. However, I am planning to move my research more towards more classical probabilistic models.
The way I see it is that my research lies on the intersection between complex analysis, stochastic mechanics and theoretical physics. What I like about this field is that we try to lift the veil of complicated looking dynamics. At heart we are trying to find what drives such dynamics and how that can still have relatively simple descriptions. There are many people in our field that do very interesting research, and I particularly like the research of Eveliina Peltola, Ellen Powel, James Norris, Yilin Wang, Nathanaël Berestycki, Ilya Losev, Lukas Schoug and Yizengh Yuan among others.
After completing this postdoc, I will most likely do another postdoc. However, I do hope that I will find a permanent position soon, as life at this stage is fairly unpredictable.
To unwind from work, I really like to read or do some sports depending on my mood. I think the key is to stop thinking about your research, which can be difficult. Most research is a bit like solving a puzzle, so usually I am very curious to see what the final picture looks like.
This is my first time living in Finland, but I do enjoy it a lot. People here seem very friendly and there is much to explore in Helsinki. What was a surprise to me is Finnish sauna culture, it is much bigger than I expected. It has started to grow on me and I think I will miss it once I no longer live in Finland.
For anyone hoping to pursue a postdoc, I would generally recommend having self-confidence. Postdoctoral applications can be very stressful, but people do usually find their place. Additionally, I recommend reaching out to those research groups you are interested in working with.